# cancer
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkænsə/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈkæːnsə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈkænsɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Rhymes: -ænsə(ɹ)

### Noun

cancer (countable and uncountable, plural cancers)
* (medicine, oncology, pathology) A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
** 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎:If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the […] hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.
** 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.
** 2015 February 26, Francis S. Collins, Harold Varmus, “A New Initiative on Precision Medicine”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 372, number 9, →DOI, pages 793–794:Cancers are common diseases; in the aggregate, they are among the leading causes of death nationally and worldwide, and their incidence is increasing as the population ages.
* (figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
** 1991, Charlie Peacock (lyrics and music), “In the Light”‎:The disease of the self runs through my blood; It's a cancer fatal to my soul.
** 1999, Bruce Clifford Ross-Larson, Effective Writing‎, page 134:Sierra Leone's post-dictator problems are almost absurd in their breadth. It once exported rice; now it can't feed itself. The life span of the average citizen is 39, the shortest in Africa. Unemployment stands at 87 percent and tuberculosis is spreading out of control. Corruption, brazen and ubiquitous, is a cancer on the economy.

#### Synonyms

* (disease): malignancy
* (something which spreads): growth, lichen

#### Hypernyms

* (disease): growth
* (disease): tumor
* (disease): neoplasia
* (disease): neoplasm

#### Hyponyms

* carcinoma
** adenocarcinoma
* leukaemia / leukemia
* lymphoma
* sarcoma
** lymphosarcoma
* See also: Derived terms denoting types

#### Coordinate terms

* benign tumor
* benign neoplasm
* benign neoplasia

#### Derived terms

* abdominal cancer
* anal cancer
* anti-cancer
* bile duct cancer
* biliary tract cancer
* black cancer
* bladder cancer
* blood cancer
* bone cancer
* boob cancer
* bowel cancer
* brain cancer
* breast cancer
* cervical cancer
* cheek cancer
* chimney sweep's cancer
* colon cancer
* colonic cancer
* colorectal cancer
* concrete cancer
* duodenal cancer
* ear cancer
* esophageal cancer
* eye cancer
* gallbladder cancer
* gastric cancer
* gay cancer
* give someone ass cancer
* give someone butt cancer
* green cancer
* gum cancer
* head and neck cancer
* head-neck cancer
* heart cancer
* hypopharyngeal cancer
* I have cancer
* intestinal cancer
* jaw cancer
* kidney cancer
* laryngeal cancer
* larynx cancer
* lip cancer
* liver cancer
* lung cancer
* lymphatic cancer
* lymph gland cancer
* lymph node cancer
* mouth cancer
* mule spinner's cancer
* mule spinners' cancer
* multi-cancer
* nasal cancer
* neck and head cancer
* neck cancer
* nose cancer
* ocular cancer
* oesophageal cancer
* oral cancer
* oropharyngeal cancer
* ovarian cancer
* pancreatic cancer
* penile cancer
* pharyngeal cancer
* pharynx cancer
* prostate cancer
* rectal cancer
* renal cancer
* scrotal cancer
* skin cancer
* small intestine cancer
* stomach cancer
* swamp cancer
* testicular cancer
* throat cancer
* thyroid cancer
* tongue cancer
* tonsil cancer
* tree cancer
* triple-negative breast cancer
* triple negative breast cancer
* turbo cancer
* uterine cancer
* vaginal cancer
* walking skin cancer
* womb cancer
* cancerwort (Kickxia spp.)
* cancer bush (Lessertia frutescens)
* cancer stick
* cancer root
* adenocancer
* anticancer
* canceration
* cancered
* cancerette
* cancerfic
* cancericidal
* cancerism
* cancerized
* cancerless
* cancerlike
* cancerogenesis
* cancerogenic
* cancerology
* cancerome
* cancerostatic
* cancerphobe
* cancerphobia
* cancerphobic
* CancerTok
* cancerweed
* multicancer
* neocancer
* noncancer
* pancancer
* postcancer
* precancer
* pure cancer

#### Related terms

* Cancer
* cancerization
* cancerize
* cancerous
* canker
* carcinogen
* chancre
* precancerous

#### Descendants

* → Hindi: कैंसर (kainsar)
* → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਕੈਂਸਰ (kainsar)
    Shahmukhi script: کینسر (kainsar)
* → Swahili: kansa
* → Urdu: کینسر (kainsar)
* → Welsh: canser

#### Translations
### Adjective

cancer (comparative more cancer, superlative most cancer)
* (slang) Extremely unpleasant and annoying.
    Synonyms: (slang) cancerous, (slang) AIDS
    I used to love this game, but the new meta is straight up cancer.

### See also

* benignancy (benignity)
* leukemia
* lymphoma
* malignancy
* melanoma

### References

* “cancer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* “cancer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* crance

## Basque
### Etymology

Ultimately from Latin cancer (“crab”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kans̻er/ [kãn.s̻er]
* IPA: (most dialects) /kans̻er/ [kãn.s̻er]
* IPA: (Biscayan) /kans̺er/ [kãn.s̺er]
* Rhymes: -ans̻er
* Rhymes: -ans̻er
* Rhymes: -ans̺er
* Hyphenation: can‧cer

### Noun

cancer inan or anim
* (astrology) Cancer
    Synonym: karramarro
* Cancer (someone with a Cancer star sign)

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “cancer”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia

## Chinese
### Etymology

From English cancer.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): ken$^1$ saa$^2$ / ken$^6$ sa$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: ken$^1$ saa$^2$ / ken$^6$ sa$^1$
*** Cantonese Pinyin: ken$^1$ saa$^2$ / ken$^6$ sa$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /kʰɛːn⁵⁵ saː³⁵/, /kʰɛːn²² sɐ⁵⁵/
* ken1 saa2 - Hong Kong;
* ken6 sa1 - Ipoh.

### Noun

cancer
* (Cantonese) cancer (disease)
    生cancer [Cantonese] ― saang$^1$ ken$^1$ saa$^2$ [Jyutping] ― to have cancer

#### Synonyms

* can, 癌 (ái), 癌症 (áizhèng)

## Danish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cancer.

### Noun

cancer c (singular definite canceren, not used in plural form)
* cancer (disease)
* (slang) Something perceived as bad.

#### Declension
## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cancer. Doublet of chancre, which was inherited, and cancre.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɑ̃.sɛʁ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

cancer m (plural cancers)
* cancer

#### Derived terms

* cancer vert

#### Related terms

* cancre
* chancre

#### Descendants

* → Romanian: cancer
* → Turkish: kanser

### Further reading

* “cancer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kankros, dissimilation of Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”) (because the pincers of a crab form a circle), from Proto-Indo-European *kr-kr- (“circular”), reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”) in the sense of "enclosure", and as such a doublet of carcer. Cognate with curvus. The medical sense, found in Celsus, seems likely to be a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”), which is possibly cognate.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkan.ker/, [ˈkäŋkɛr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkan.t͡ʃer/, [ˈkän̠ʲt͡ʃer]

### Noun

cancer m (genitive cancrī); second declension
* a crab
** (Astronomy) the constellation Cancer
* a tumor, cancer
    Synonym: carcinōma
* a lattice, grid, or barrier

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).
* In classical Latin, usually declined as a masculine second-declension noun with the stem cancro-.
* Third-declension forms built on a stem cancer- also existed, but were much less frequent. Attested forms include:
** genitive singular canceris (Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5.617)
** accusative plural cancerēs (Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 157.3.4)
* The grammarians Charisius and Priscian describe a use as a neuter noun, with Priscian specifying that this applies when the word is used for the illness; the neuter occurs sporadically in later Christian authors.

#### Derived terms

* cancellus

#### Descendants

* Asturian: cáncanu, cancru, cangru (“crab louse”)
* → Old English: cancer
** Middle English: canker
*** English: canker
*** → Irish: cancar
*** → Welsh: cancr
* Old French: chancre
** Middle French: chancre
*** French: chancre
**** → English: chancre
*** Norman: chancre
** Walloon: crantche
* Friulian: cancar (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro), granç (via Late Latin cancrus)
* Galician: cáncaro, cángaro, cancro, cangrio
* → Middle Irish: cainncer
* Italian: granchio (via metathesis of Late Latin cancrulus > *cranclus)
* Old Occitan:
** Catalan: cranc, carranc
** Occitan: cranc
* Portuguese: carango (“crab louse”)
* Sicilian: garanciu
** → Maltese: granċ
* Old Spanish: cangro
** ⇒ Spanish: cangrejo
*** → Asturian: cangrexu
*** → Galician: cangrexo, caranguexo
*** → Portuguese: caranguejo
* Venetan: cancaro (from a dialectal variant *cáncaro), granso (via Late Latin cancrus)
* → Proto-Brythonic: *krank
Learned borrowings:
** Asturian: cáncer
** Catalan: càncer
** English: cancer
** French: cancer, cancre
*** → Romanian: cancer
*** → Turkish: kanser
** Middle Dutch: canker
*** Dutch: kanker
**** Afrikaans: kanker
**** → Caribbean Javanese: kangker
**** → Indonesian: kanker
**** → Minangkabau: kangker
**** → Papiamentu: kanker
** Italian: cancro
** Norman: cancèr
** Occitan: càncer
** Portuguese: cancro, câncer
** Spanish: cáncer, cancro
** Walloon: cancer

### References

* ↑ Jerry Russell Craddock, "The Romance descendants of Latin cancer and vespa" in Romance Philology, Vol. 60 (2006), Homage Issue: Special Combined issue of Romance Philology In Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Romance Philology : A homage volume dedicated to Jerry R. Craddock, containing a selection of his obra dispersa on Romance historical linguistics, pp. 1–42. page 5 http://www.jstor.org/stable/44741756

### Further reading

* “cancer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “cancer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “cancer”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
* “cancer” in volume 3, column 228, line 24 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cancer”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 174

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* cancor

### Etymology

From Latin cancer.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkɑn.ker/, [ˈkɑŋ.ker]

### Noun

cancer m
* cancer
* crab

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Derived terms

* cancerādl
* cancerhæbern
* cancerwund

#### Descendants

* Middle English: canker, cancre, cancer, cankre, cankyr, kankir, kanker (partially from Old French cancre)
** English: canker
** → Welsh: cancr

### References

* Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “cancer”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French cancer, from Latin cancer.

### Noun

cancer n (plural cancere)
* cancer

#### Related terms

* canceros

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

cancer c
* (medicine, oncology, pathology) cancer

#### Declension

| | | nominative | genitive |
| singular | indefinite | cancer | cancers |
| singular | definite | cancern | cancerns |
| plural | indefinite | cancrar | cancrars |
| plural | definite | cancrarna | cancrarnas |

#### Synonyms

* kräfta (obsolete)

#### Derived terms

* blodcancer
* bröstcancer
* cancerframkallande
* cancerläkare
* cancersvulst
* hudcancer
* koloncancer
* levercancer
* livmodercancer
* livmoderhalscancer
* lungcancer
* lymfcancer
* magcancer
* prostatacancer
* skelettcancer
* sköldkörtelcancer
* strupcancer
* tarmcancer
* testikelcancer
* tjocktarmscancer
* underlivscancer
* uteruscancer
* äggstockscancer
* ändtarmscancer

#### See also

* onkologi

### References

* cancer in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* cancer in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* cancer in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* Svensk MeSH